Silicon Valley Pushing for California Exit

The fact that Donald Trump has won the race for the next US president has stirred up a lot of emotions throughout the country. Many of the stronger negative emotions are coming from Silicon Valley tech giants.

Lead by some of the biggest technology names in the Valley, there is a motion currently happening for California to secede from the United States - and Silicon Valley’s biggest tech starts are behind the movement.

Trump and Tech

Trump has been at odds with the tech world throughout his campaign. He has made comments about Apple’s chosen country of manufacturing (China), has noted that Mark Zuckerberg’s movement towards specialized immigration should not be allowed, and has stated that Jeff Bezos of Amazon purchased the Washington Post simply for his own political agenda.

Needless to say, Trump has not made many friends in tech.

Fringe to Fame

Originally a fringe movement, the vote and fight for California to exit from the rest of the states is now backed by Uber entrepreneur Shervin Pishevar. Pishevar has told press that he will be putting a lot of money behind the movement and he has (almost singlehandedly) made the ‘Calexit’ (as it is being called) movement legitimate.

This push to make California an independent republic is starting to gain momentum now that Trump has won the presidency. Largely a democratic state, California is also mostly self-sustaining - this is one of the major arguments in this movement. Many additional supporters in Silicon Valley would like California to become its own nation.

Making the Move

Right now, the Calexit move is simply something that is being discussed and debated, but it might soon be much more than that. With some of tech’s largest and most well funded technology companies and investors behind the movement, California might become its own nation sooner rather than later - but it’s all speculation right now.

In order for California to actually secede from the United States, the movement has to have a lot more support, but that support seems to be gaining. While other states in the nation might be collectively opposed to Trump as president, California happens to be the one with the most pull - both financially and economically. A large amount of the nation’s goods and services are based in the state making it well-poised to leave the country as a whole.

Tech’s Future

Right now it’s too soon to determine what will happen in the world of technology now that Donald Trump is president. Whether or not he will make good on some of his campaign notes and press some of the Valley’s biggest tech companies to move operations back to the US and veto things like Zuckerberg’s immigration petition remain to be seen.

If President Trump does decide to focus on Silicon Valley, he might just have some push back from some of the tech world’s biggest and most influential founders. At the time of this writing, California remains part of the United States, but that might not be the case in the near future.